Wednesday, February 8, 2006

MUNG BEAN PUDDING

Mung Bean Pudding is very popular throughout South-East Asia and the recipe doesn't vary much from one country to another as certain places like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia or Singapore tend to have certain culinary traditions in common...

Mung beans (or green gram, golden gram, green "soy" , moong dhal) are used for desserts in all of Asia and are a very healthy nutriment. These pulses are a nourishing, yet easy to digest source of dietary fiber and folate, and contain many minerals. Mung beans (Vigna Radiata) were originally cultivated in India and migrated to China where they have been used for thousands of years...

Mung Beans are vastly used in Chinese cuisine and the germinated mung bean sprouts are a common ingredient for stir-fries or salads. Many different Asian countries (Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Philippines, Indonesia, etc...) cook with this pea and it's diverse byproducts (flour, split mung beans, bean sprouts, cellophane noodles, etc...)...

I'm going to introduce you to the Thai version of this delicate dessert (Kanom)... Mung Bean Pudding is called "Tau Suan" in Thailand and is very much appreciated.

Tau Suan is generally eaten warm and topped with slightly salted coconut milk. It is a type of mung bean porridge which is thickened by tapioca flour (cassava starch) and sweetened.

This dessert is easy to make and very interesting taste-wise and texture-wise. But, of course, for somebody who is not aquainted to the subtleties of Asian desserts, it might be a little bizarre and foreign to her/his palate as, in Asia, sweets and desserts are not always very close to our idea of how a dessert should be. In fact, "Tau Suan" is an acquired taste for a non-native person...

Anyhow, I found it fine, soothing and pleasantly gooey (as my boyfriend would say, it's like "noseblow"!!!). As I'm a fanatic of Asian desserts and sweets, I loved it and will surely prepare "Tau Suan" again!...

The original recipe for Mung Bean Pudding was taken from www.thaitable.com and certain elements were changed by myself...Serves 2

Method:1. Boil the mung beans in 2 cups of water until tender. It should take about 20 minutes. 2. Dissolve the tapioca flour in a cup of water and add to the boiling mung beans.3. Stir quickly and constantly to prevent the bottom from burning. It should get a little sticky.4. Add the sugar, bring it back to a boil and turn off the heat.5. In a separate bowl, mix 1/3 cup of the coconut milk with the salt.6. Heat it up for a few second just to warm it up.7. Serve hot with coconut milk on top.

Remarks:When adding the tapioca flour to the cooked mung beans, the mixture should get a little sticky.Add more water if it gets too sticky or more flour if too waterly. A consistency of gravy is ideal.Don't let the coconut milk boil, or else it will separate. If you wish, you can add a bit of vanilla flavored sugar in the pudding or even replace some of the water with pandan extract.Serving Suggestions:Eat at any time, as a desserts, a snack or as a meal with a good cup of jasmine or green tea.

For more informations concerning "Mung Beans", please read the introduction I've added to my post...I'm happy I made you discover something unknown to you! Well, in our western world it's maybe not so popular as in Asia, but I think that many vegetarians use this pulse as it's very healthy...